United We Stand, Divided We Fall
by ughIcantthinkofausername
Summary: The Serpentine have risen once more. Nya's kidnapped again. But when an unfortunate event strikes, the ninja have to deal with something most of them have never dealt with before - they have to go it alone. Follow our four protagonists as they discover just how much they need each other in a fight for their survival. Not as fluffy as it sounds, plenty of action. R&R.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I know a lot of stories still take place before the season finale, but this is sometime after it. Because the last few episodes were hinting that the Serpentine were trying to come back, in this story they have, led once more by Skales. They are the main enemy. Because the Serpentine are still a major threat to Ninjago, the ninja got the team back together and they live on the Bounty. Everyone who was on the Bounty as of Season 3 still lives there, even Dr. Julien and the whole Garmadon family. Dr. Julien is there because he's the only one who can repair Zane if anything happens, and the Garmadons are all there because they couldn't bear to split up so soon after being reunited. I'm not sure how much of this will matter in this story, but that's the setup. This starts in Kai's POV, but it focuses pretty much equally on all four elemental ninja (Sorry, Lloyd fans. Writing Lloyd is ****hard****.) Well, if there's anything else you need to know, I'll put it in another A/N or slip it into the story somehow. Until next time, dear reader, please enjoy the first chapter of United We Stand, Divided We Fall.**

****(Kai's POV)

This is it. The cave where those stupid snakes are holding Nya is so close I can practically taste it. Why does the enemy always take _her_?

Jay is freaking out. He learned his lesson after tackling Cole last time, but that doesn't mean he isn't worried. _I should say something_, I think.

"Don't worry," I say, putting my hand on his shoulder. "Nya - she's gone through this before. She'll be alright." I think I'm trying to convince myself more than Jay.

Cole calls down to us from further up the mountain. "C'mon guys, just a little further. We'll be there any minute." Jay and I pick up the pace to catch up with Cole and Zane. Sure enough, the four of us (Lloyd having stayed behind to watch the Bounty) scrambled over a steep ridge and found ourselves on a wide, flat ledge, no more than 500 feet from the mouth of the cave. We head towards it, bracing ourselves for any attack, but none came. Everything seems to be going pretty well. But a few feet from the entrance, Zane stops suddenly.

"What's wrong?" Cole asks, turning to Zane.

He responds hesitantly. "We . . . we cannot go in there."

"Are you kidding me?!" I respond, practically yelling. "Whadd'ya mean, we can't go in?"

Jay nods, backing me up. "Nya's in there! Why wouldn't we go?"

"I...I don't know, exactly," Zane begins. "I just sense that if we enter, something . . . horrible will happen."

What is he trying to pull? "Something?!" I scream. "You're asking me to abandon my sister in the hands of those filthy snakes, and the best reason you can give me it 'something'?!"

Cole butts in. "I don't know, Kai. He hasn't been wrong yet."

"There's a first time for everything," I mutter.

"Please, you must believe me, I - " Zane hesitates, trying to think. "I just . . . I do not _know_ why, but I sense very clearly that we must _not_ go into that cave."

Jay won't take no for an answer. "I don't care _what _happens! I just want to save Nya!" With that, he and I dash into the cave.

"Get back here, and that's an order!" Cole shouts somewhere behind us, but we keep going, Cole and Zane following behind us. Probably trying to stop us, but who cares? We got them to come.

Not paying attention to where I'm going, I suddenly hear a loud *crack* and realize I must've stepped on a weak area of stone. Somehow, I manage to trigger a much larger reaction, and I can see my friends vanish one by one as the cave collapses around us. But my vision and feeling of fear only last for a second before they are replaced by a sharp pain in my head and I black out.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"K-kai?" a frantic voice calls. "Cole? Z-zane?"

"Jay?" I respond groggily.

"Kai! Oh thank goodness, are the others with you?"

I look around. IT's dark, but I can still see vague shadows. I'm cut off from Jay and the others by a pile of debris forming a sort of wall to the cave ceiling. All I see are a few rocks and a puddle of who-knows-what, though I have to double check because the cave is still spinning from that blow to the head that knocked me out. "No," I respond eventually.

Jay is quiet for a while. "I hope they're alright." Just then, we hear something stirring to my right, beyond another wall of fallen stone. "Cole? Zane?" Jay asks.

"Ugh, what happened?" Cole's voice queries sleepily. "Oh right . . . cave, Nya, rocks . . . yeah . . . you guys alright?"

"Jay and I are here, but we're cut off from each other and we can't find Zane. Is he with you?"

"Nope, I don't think so." We hear clattering and then a sudden *thud*.

"What was that?" Jay asks frantically. "Are you alright?"

Cole's voice is laced with pain. "Yeah, I'm fine . . . but I think my leg is broken." Another thud. "Okay, scratch that. I _definitely_ broke my leg."

It's quiet for a second before Jy breaks the silence. "I told you we should've listened to Zane."

"You did not!" I yell back.

"Did too!"

"Guys, this is getting us nowhere!" Cole shouts angrily. "You were both **idiots** who should've **listened** to their **orders**. You could've gotten us **killed**, for all I know you already killed my **best friend**, and - WOULD WHOEVER'S MAKING THAT INFERNAL SCRATCHING PLEASE KNOCK IT OFF!" he finishes, his voice echoing through the cave. The tapping stops for a second, only to hesitantly start up again.

"Jay, you heard him, knock it off."

"YOU knock it off! I'm not doing anything!"

"Would one of you please just fess up?"

The tapping grew more frantic.

Cole sighed. "Ugh, that is just so annoying and repet-" he stops. "repetetive . . . almost like someone's intentionally tapping the same thing, over and over . . . Zane?" The tapping sped up excitedly. "Kai, Jay, does one of you speak Morse Code?"

Jay pipes up. "Oh yeah! I used to be obsessed with telegraphs, and Morse Code was used to communicate with them. Samuel Morse was some kind of genius, it was only 1844 and still he - "

I sigh, exasperated. "Jay, will you just shut up and translate it?

"Oh, right, sorry . . ."

I only have to wait a few minutes before Jay speaks up again. "Cole, you were right, it's Zane. He says he's alright, bur his vocal circuits were damaged in the collapse, and 'took you long enough to figure out the co-' Hey! We figured it out eventually!" More tapping. "Of course you would've noticed it sooner, it's not like you have a sixth sense _and_ a computer for a brain . . . no, no, I'm kidding . . . It's a joke . . . You're kidding me. Well, if it's broken too, then I guess you physically _can't_ be kidding me . . . yes Zane, that was also a joke . . ."

"It's like listening to someone talking on the phone," I whine.

"Sorry," Jay says quickly. A pause. "Zane also says 'sorry.'"

Cole clears his throat. "Well, now that everyone's here, we need to find a way out of this mess. So, first of all, who's hurt and how? We need to know everyone's weaknesses before we try to plan anything."

"I think I broke my wrist, and maybe cracked a rib or something, but that's about it," says Jay.

"I'm fine, just - just tired," I respond next.

"Zane says his vocal, humor, and vision circuits are damaged, but otherwise he's fine," Jay says in response to the rapid rhythm of tapping to my left. "He also says Kai's lying and in reality he's displaying many of the signs of a relatively severe concussion, excluding amnesia." Crap. Thanks, Zane.

Cole finishes, "Well you all know my leg's broken, and I was hit on the head but not as bad as Kai - who, may I add, is a terrible liar."

I groan. "Fine, fine. Let's just get out of here. Cole, can you use you elemental powers?"

"The cave's too unstable. I could easily bring the whole thing crashing down on top of us."

"So what you're saying is, we're doomed." Jay's response was met with rapidfire tapping. "You can stay calm, Zane, but don't tell me what to do! Nya's still trapped in here somewhere, you know."

"Maybe . . . Lloyd will come looking for us?" I say, trying to lighten the mood, and to get the subject of conversation away from Nya. I can't handle that quite yet.

"Not before we starve to death!" Jay is still freaking out. I can't blame him, I'm pretty freaked out myself. Come to think of it, his claustrophobia and fear of the dark probably isn't helping.

Zane's tapping out a monologue, and Jay doesn't even bother translating. "I know . . . but Nya- . . . maybe so, but even she- . . . I guess you're right. Still, I wish- . . . yeah . . ." It's no use to even try to understand the conversation, but Jay does seem to be calming down, so I guess whatever Zane's saying, it's helping. I turn to my right to talk to Cole.

"So do you actually have a plan to get out of here?"

Cole sighs. "One, but I don't like it . . ."

I know what he's thinking, and I hate it too. It just always seems to result in disaster. "Splitting up . . ."

Cole sighs again. "Listen, let's just . . . let's just get some sleep. We'll talk about all of this tomorrow."

"Alright. Good night."

"Good night, Kai"

I fall asleep to Jay and Zane tapping messages back and forth, trying not to let Jay's anxiety keep us awake. But nothing could've kept me awake for more than the 5 seconds it took for me to fall into a troubled, uncomfortable sleep on the cold stone floor."


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey there! For anyone who was confused (my betareader was, a little) - the ninja are all separated from each other by piles of rubble, so that each ninja is on their own, and it would be too risky to try to dig themselves out (as Cole said in the last chapter). If anything else is confusing, just ask in the reviews. I know my writing tends to be a little cryptic.**

**So yeah, this chapter does focus primarily on Zane, but it will focus relatively evenly on all four elemental ninja. I just chose to narrate this from his point of view because I thought it would give an interesting angle to the conversation, because it's slightly awkward to always have to wait for Jay to translate Zane's words, because I like the narration style I get to use for Zane's thoughts, and because I think he adds a particular insight to this chapter that you don't exactly get the same feel for with the other characters. Yeah, also because he's my favorite, but I promise the next chapter will be narrated from all four ninja's points of view.**

**Also - this is not ZanexJay, though some people might get that impression from the first section of this chapter. The only ship in this is JayxNya.**

****(Zane's POV)

"But what if the Serpentine already did something horrible to her and it's too late to help and what if they know we're here and they're coming after us next?!"

I sigh silently. Jay could not have chosen a worse time for an anxiety attack, and as my internal clock mechanism tells me it has been almost eight hours since Kai and Cole exchanged goodnight wishes, I fear neither Jay nor I will be getting any sleep tonight. _"We cannot know anything for certain at the moment, brother. For now, just try to get some sleep while you can. Please." _Jay had given up tapping his messages the moment he was sure the others were asleep, but it's not as though I had any choice. I sigh again. If only my vision circuits were functional, then I may have a chance of repairing my vocal systems, but I don't dare try anything in my current state. I would risk shutting off my main power, or worse - erasing my memory again.

"Sleep? How do you expect me to sleep? We're stuck inside this _tiny_ cave, and we're all cut off from the entrance, and each other, and any minute the whole thing could come crashing down on us and it's getting smaller by the minute and I can't breathe and -"

Oh no. _Jay, it isn't getting smaller. Your mind is playing tricks on you. Just calm down and breathe deeply, everything will be alright, I promise." _I have to tap it out seven times before he stops talking long enough to listen, and by then Cole and Kai have already begun to wake up and begin to talk to Jay, trying to curb his anxiety. They chatter for a while, but I make few contributions to the conversation, not wanting to be an annoyance (seeing as Ja has to translate my every word). I must have drifted off at some point, because the next thing I know I hear Jay yelling at me through the stone wall.

"Zane! Are you still there? You better not have wandered off somewhere! Oh crap guys I don't think he's there what if something happened . . ."

_"I'm here, Jay."_ I hear three sighs of relief. Kai and Cole do not understand what I am saying, but I'm sure they knew it was me. "_I am sorry, I must have dozed off while you were talking."_

"He says he was asleep."

"Seriously, Zane?! We're sitting here discussing a life-or-death situation, and you just fall asleep? You had hours to sleep minutes ago!"

Jay speaks up abashedly. "Actually, he kinda didn't . . . sorry Zane"

_"No need to apologize."_

Jay laughs. "Thanks." The four of us continue talking - well, talking and tapping - as we try to plan a safe way to escape the cave and rescue Nya.

* * *

". . . Are you sure?" I agree with Kai, this plan does seem quite dangerous.

Cole's voice responds uncertainly, "Listen, I don't like it any more than you do. But it's the only way we're gonna get out of this mess."

Jay cuts in. "Man, I just don't know . . . when has this ever worked before?"

"Well do you have any better ideas?" Cole asks sardonically.

Jay is silent.

As much as I hate it, Cole is right. This is the only plan which gives us any significant statistical chance of survival - I even bothered to run any other scenario through my data simulator. This is the only case in which all four of us stand a chance of leaving the cave alive.

_"My systems indicate that there is only a 23.4% combined probability that any other plan will work. This plan gives us a 56.7% chance. At least the odds are slightly in our favor. I wish that I was wrong . . . but this is the only way out."_ I wait while Jay translates m response to the others, and while the others sit silently considering our options, or lack thereof.

Kai and Jay both hesitantly give their consent.

"I guess we have no choice then."

"If that's really the only way . . ."

Cole takes on the role of leader once more, for what is to be the last time for quite a while. "It's settled, then." Cole pauses. "We'll split up."

* * *

**I'm sorry about the short chapter, this chapter was really supposed to be just the first part of next chapter, but I just wanted to get something up for all of you I've kept waiting. Also, this way I get to leave you with a cliffie (as if most of you didn't guess the plan at the beginning).**

**Thanks so much for all the review so far. I love getting emails telling me about the people who've read my stories. Please, review, flame if you want to, any critique or constructive criticism is welcome. THank you for reading and stay tuned, new chapter should come quicker than this one did! (not that that's fast or anything :P )**

**Until next time!**

**- ugh I can't think of a username**


	3. Chapter 3

(Cole's POV)

I wait for the others to leave before getting up - I don't want them to hear me fall again. And if one thing's certain, it's that that's gonna happen a lot.

*thud* Yup. There you go already. I wince as I pull myself off the stone floor and slowly make my way to the cave wall. At first I didn't want to lean on it, for fear of it being too unstable, but it's not as if I'm going to get anywhere otherwise.

It takes me at least an hour to get to a fork in the cave. I'm about to randomly choose the one on the right when I here voices echoing not far down the passage.

"I'm telling you, Lizaru, the ninja pests were here! Shouldn't we raise the alarm?"

"If they were here, then where are they now, Chokun? We still have the girl! Why worry Pythor over anything else?"

Serpentine! And they're heading this way. I manage to duck into the left tunnel just as they come out of the passage. Not that I'm afraid of those losers, but I probably couldn't fight a fly with this leg. I hold my breath until they're out of earshot, then switch into the tunnel they came out of. It might mean more serpentine entanglements, but it also might mean finding Nya, or a way out of this hole.

(Zane's POV)

It has been almost three hours since I first began to search for an exit, but all I have managed to do is get lost. Completely, hopelessly lost.

I really have managed to get myself into a mess. I would call to the others, but even if I could, I must be miles away from our original location by now - unless I've turned in circles. I don't know what I was thinking in the first place. Why would I believe even for a second that, blind and mute, I could navigate these Serpentine-infested caves alone?

Speaking of which - something just moved to my left. I finger my shurikens, though throwing them without any way to aim probably won't do me much good...

Meanwhile, something or someone continues to move my way, and with no way to hide my only option is to try to fight.

(Jay's POV)

Oh man oh man oh man oh man oh MAN.

There are at least 50 Serpentine here. I don't know where the heck they came from, I just stop paying attention to where I'm going for one moment and BAM. Surrounded.

Their mouths are moving, I think they're talking about me but I can't even focus on what they're saying any more. _Not now, brain..._

But then the 50 snakes turn to thousands turn to millions and I can't feel myself breathing anymore. The panic attack is starting in full force and I'm gasping for air, knowing I have to do something but having no idea what and I'm doomed, I'm doomed, I'm doomed...

I've already lost and none of them has even raised a sword.

(Kai's POV)

I can't keep walking like this. I don't know how long it's been since I talked to the others, by my best guess it's some time late at night. At this point I couldn't care less - it's just a matter of how much longer it takes me to starve to death. I haven't found a single sign of life. At this point I'd be happy to see so much as a lousy snake.

I stumble into the wall for what must be the millionth time in the past hour. My head is hurting worse and worse, but it's not like I can just stop walking.

Maybe I can. Maybe now's the part where I just stop, where I just give up and face the consequences of my stupid actions.

I hope the others get out alright.

I hope they find Nya.

Nya . . .

I get up. No matter what, I need to keep moving. I need to find my baby sister.

* * *

**I know, cliffies are cliche - I tried to stagger the endings from least to most dramatic. Sorry Zane's not very in character this chapter, I couldn't really think of anything, you know, Zane-ish for him to say. He's not usually a hard character to write for me.**

**Anyways, tell me what you think in the reviews, any feedback is greatly appreciated! And thanks so much for all the responses so far!**

**Sorry this chapter took so long. Until next time... OMG SEASON 4 WHAT NOW?!**

**Bye-bye!**


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